4 indications that your startup is ready for the international market

Even if the most successful businesses go where the money is, that shouldn’t be your only criteria. In fact, there are four main indicators that determine whether a young company is ready to go international.

Like many small business owners who play a crucial role in the USA economy, you may be wondering if the time has come to diversify your activities into the global market. You are not alone: in fact, most of the country’s exporting companies have fewer than 100 employees, but produce 25% of the total value of USA exports. If SMEs that start overseas are more likely to endure and grow, it’s because USA have a global advantage early on: they’re part of the best-networked and most popular G7 country. easy to do business.

Even if the most successful businesses go where the money is, that shouldn’t be your only criteria. In fact, there are four main indicators that determine whether a young company is ready to go international. If only one or two of the metrics below apply to your business, you are definitely on the right track, but keep in mind that all four should be in place for your global strategy to be successful.

4 indications that your startup is ready for the international market

1. You have a viable and flexible business model

If you can demonstrate that there is a demand and a customer base for your product or service, now might be a good time to go abroad. However, you need to consider not only your potential for growth, but also your ability to harness it with the workforce, infrastructure and the necessary systems and processes. Will your team be able to continue serving your customers even as your sales increase and your business expands? In some cases, you don’t necessarily have to prove that your own business model can be adapted, as long as you can demonstrate that a similar model in a competitor has proven itself on the world stage.

2. The World market is either insufficient or saturated

Have you already saturated the World market or do you see no real interest? Perhaps this is a sign that you should turn to exporting. In your research, you may find that your product or service is more suitable for another market, which might be enough to entice you to cross borders. Even companies that export through e-commerce from the start need to integrate logistics and distribution into their business model; luckily, various organizations are there to help them.

3. You have the right team

To be successful, you must surround yourself with a team that knows how to enter global markets. This team will be responsible for adapting and distributing your product to various clients, in addition to promoting and raising awareness of your brand abroad. To do this, it could: form international research and development partnerships;

participate in international accelerators; personally visit your target markets to understand customs, culture and customer expectations.

You and your team also have an interest in networking in these foreign markets by integrating local groups of young companies. You need a system to find qualified personnel quickly, as well as a management team to help you oversee your operations.

4. You are already immersed in the world of exports

United States has a rich ecosystem of resources to help entrepreneurs understand the risks and opportunities associated with creating a global strategy, as we have seen this year. Ideally, you would already have taken advantage of resources like Startup United States, the Trade Commissioner Service, EDC, and incubation programs.

Among the main programs that help start-ups get started abroad is the USA Export Challenge. Following the success of last year’s pilot project, the Challenge expanded to even more cities in 2019 to help more than 1,500 entrepreneurs here prepare to export.

These knowledge-based service providers use technology to communicate their ideas to customers around the world. They belong to a variety of sectors, from medical devices and technologies to consumer goods, education and biotechnology. The regional cohort winners compete for $ 100,000 in seed money to internationalize their business and be part of the next generation of United States.

This year’s event was such a success that we are hosting another Accelerator in Toronto on October 23, as part of Small Business Week, working with our government and industry partners, EDC, UPS and the Trade Commissioner Service.